Southaven, Lewisburg advance to state finals in baseball

Hernando gets knocked out in North Half finals

It was toward the tail end of his postgame interview Saturday when Southaven baseball coach Ed Rich took a quick second to acknowledge the folks in the press box.

The song blaring from the speakers fit nicely with his team's most recent accomplishment — a 3-0 win in Game 3 of the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A North Half championship series against visiting DeSoto Central.

Playing down on the diamond and all around Tim Robbins Field was Johnny Cash's rendition of "Jackson," the place right around the corner from the Chargers' reward — Pearl's Trustmark Park — for a shot at a state title against Harrison Central.

"Just the excitement for these kids; from Day 1 how hard they worked," Rich said. "I know at times I'm hard to deal with and expect a lot, but they bought into what we did. ... They bought into how hard we practiced. We left practice scratched up and dirty everyday. That's Southaven baseball. That's just us."

It was a gritty variety of ball that helped the Chargers rally from Thursday's 2-1 series-opening loss. They captured a 7-1 victory Friday at DeSoto Central, creating it a winner-take-all situation back on their home turf. Nolan Blackwood got the starting nod on the mound and he faced one batter over the minimum, missing out on a no-hitter and perfect game when DeSoto Central's Austin Riley singled to center in the top of the second inning. Five days earlier, the University of Memphis signee tossed a four-hitter to eliminate Northwest Rankin in the North semifinals.

"What a gutsy performance again," said Rich, who watched Blackwood strike out six. "It's nice sitting here having him throw the third one."

Blackwood, a sidearm hurler, coaxed 12-groundball outs.

"My team plays behind me very well. I loved it," he said. "The main thing I threw tonight was my fastball. Kept it down, let it move on its own and just do its thing."

DeSoto Central starter Trenton Mobley was unscathed until the fifth — an inning that began with a Christian Saulsberry walk. Geoffrey King followed with a bunt. The ball was fielded and thrown away. It was then mishandled on the throw back into the infield, allowing Saulsberry to score all the way from first.

Ole Miss signee Wyatt Short reached on a bunt single and stole second, forcing the Jaguars to intentionally walk Mississippi State signee Vance Tatum to load the bases. With one out, Nic Short hit a shot that deflected off the glove of a drawn-in Riley at third base and just under the glove of Zach Schritenthal at shortstop, which plated Southaven's other two runs.

"You've got to focus on every single pitch," said DeSoto Central coach Mark Monaghan, "and we had a few errors there and lost some focus. That's all it takes. Good teams will take advantage of that."

The Jaguars will graduate 11 seniors, Monaghan is confident the foundation has been laid.

"Anytime you lose, especially at this point, it's tough to shallow," he said. "You hate it for your seniors, because we had a vision from Day 1 and that was to be state champions. We just came up a little short."

Class 4A

Patriots sweep: Lewisburg is making its second consecutive appearance at state following 7-2 and 10-0 North Half victories over Kosciusko.

Patriot coach Rusty Cagle estimated the Game 1 crowd on the road was over 500. Home was a place where the Whippets had previously been undefeated.

"That was a big win. It was packed," he said. "They threw their best arm (Ryan Rigby) — he just didn't have the velocity."

Lewisburg (28-7) scored five runs in the sixth inning of the opener and had a 5-0 by the end of the second inning in Game 2.

"We're just playing well right now. Everybody is contributing," said Cagle, whose squad will play Newton County for the 4A title. "It's going to feel like we're playing minor league baseball for a couple of nights."

Trustmark Park is home of the Southern League's Mississippi Braves, a Double-A affiliate of Atlanta.

Class 5A

Tigers swept: Playing in its third North Half championship series in four years, Hernando was on the wrong end of 8-5 and 5-0 outcomes against New Hope.

The Game 1 bright spots were home runs by Trey Freeman and Caleb Gowen. Caleb Goff and Townsend Myers split time on the mound.

"Both of them threw real well," Tiger coach David Lara said. "It's just we had one inning where we ended up giving up four runs on five errors."

New Hope lefthander Taylor Stafford pitched a complete game Sunday at Trojan Field.

"He just lived outside on us," said Lara. "We had trouble going the other way with him. He did a good job of keeping us off balance."

After a 2-8 start, Hernando finishes the year at 16-14. "I'm proud of this group," Lara added. "They did an excellent job."